Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza (formerly Central Union Terminal and Central Union Plaza) is the main passenger rail and intercity bus station of

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. Toledo is served by two

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

routes: the '' Capitol Limited,'' which operates daily between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

; and the '' Lake Shore Limited'', which operates daily between Chicago and (via two sections east of Albany)

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is also served by

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...

and

Barons Bus Lines Barons Bus Lines is an intercity bus company operating in the United States. It serves passengers in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Barons Bus operates GoBus, a federally funded b ...

. Named for Martin Luther King Jr., the building was designed in

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

style by Robert Crosbie. It is owned by the Toledo–Lucas County Port Authority.

History

1886 Union terminal

A union terminal, built in 1886 in the Gothic style, served several of the major rail lines passing through Toledo. Tenant railroads included the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

(B&O), the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

(as well as its subsidiaries, the CCC & St.L. (

Big Four Railroad The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States. It operated in affiliation with the New York Central system. I ...

) and the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in ...

), the

Pere Marquette Railroad The Pere Marquette Railway operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections in ...

and the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

. The station caught fire in 1930 but remained standing. The damage was later repaired and service resumed. A new station was being designed for Toledo, but the Great Depression delayed the construction of it. In the 1940s, the Toledo planning commission included rebuilding Union Terminal in a new vision for the city, but the plans were delayed even further by the outbreak of World War II.

Central Union Terminal (1950–1971)

Air view Central Union Terminal, Toledo, Ohio (83273)

Considered one of the last of the

's (NYC) great stations, the Central Union Terminal opened the week of September 17, 1950. It was the $5 million crown jewel of the railroad's post-war investment in Toledo, a project that also built eight other buildings and, with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, replaced a coal-loading facility in East Toledo with a larger $18.5 million one in

Maumee Bay Maumee Bay on Lake Erie is located in the U.S. state of Ohio, just east of the city of Toledo. The bay and the surrounding wetlands form most of the Maumee River basin, and in 1975 part of the area was incorporated into Maumee Bay State Park. The ...

. Over the next two decades, the Central Union Terminal was used by four major railroads: the NYC, B&O, Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O), the successor to the Pere Marquette, and the

. The first floor housed baggage services, while the second floor housed a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

for train crews. The passenger terminal and concourse were on the third floor, while the NYC Toledo division and dispatching offices were on the fourth. Major named trains served at the station to late 1950s and early 1960s: *Baltimore & Ohio: **''

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

'' (

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) *New York Central: **''

Cleveland Mercury ''Mercury'' was the name used by the New York Central Railroad for a family of daytime streamliner passenger trains operating between midwestern cities. The ''Mercury'' train sets were designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, and ...

'' (Detroit -

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

) *Wabash: **connector trains to Fort Wayne, to connect with ''St. Louis Special'' and '' Wabash Cannon Ball'' Major named trains served at the station to late 1960s and 1971: *Baltimore and Ohio: **'' Cincinnatian'' (Detroit -

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

) **'' Night Express'' (Detroit - Cincinnati) *Chesapeake and Ohio: **'' Sportsman'' (Detroit - Phoebus) *New York Central: **''Iroquois'' (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

) **''

New England States The ''New England States'' was a passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad and its successor Penn Central over the Water Level Route (predominantly alongside rivers and lake shores) between Chicago and Boston. It was launched in ...

'' (Chicago - Boston)

Amtrak era (1971–present)

Through the late 1990s, Toledo was served by as many as six daily trains, including the '' Lake Cities'' from 1980 to 1995 and the '' Pennsylvanian'' from 1998 to 2003. In the early 1990s, local leaders decided against moving Amtrak into smaller, less costly quarters as had been done in many other cities during the 1970s and 80s. The Toledo–Lucas County Port Authority purchased the Central Union Terminal from

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

for $20,000 in 1995. In 1996, the Port Authority completed an $8.5 million renovation of the building which included a spatial reorganization of the building along with a façade restoration, a new heating and air-conditioning system, a new roof and work on surrounding roadways and landscaping. The reorganization moved passenger areas from the third floor to the ground floor for better access to the street and platforms. No longer a railroad terminal, the building was renamed Central Union Plaza. The former passenger waiting room on the third floor was restored but is now used for meetings and events. The building took its current name ''Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza'' in 2001. Before Amtrak stopped carrying mail in 2005, it stored material handling cars (MHCs) at the plaza on several unused platform tracks. A small number of private cars are often stored on the platform tracks closest to the station. Toledo has the distinction of hosting the first

National Train Day National Train Day was a holiday started by Amtrak in 2008 as a method to spread information to the general public about the advantages of railway travel and the history of trains in the United States. It was held each year on the Saturday closest ...

every year, a week before the event is held in other cities nationwide. For the arrival of

bus service in 2016, the station was remodeled again to add a ticket counter, office, freight room, a Subway restaurant and bus bays. Greyhound moved into the structure on June 23, 2016.

also began service to the station. The facility now serves as a modern intermodal train and bus terminal and office complex.

Services

Amtrak

Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza is served by Amtrak's ''Lake Shore Limited'' which operates between New York City/Boston and Chicago, and the ''Capitol Limited'' which operates between Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Amtrak uses the two tracks nearest the station while freight trains roll on bypass tracks at the south edge of the railyard. Both westbound trains pass through Toledo early in the morning, while eastbound trains pass through in the middle of the night.

Intercity bus lines and routes

The plaza is also served by Greyhound routes connecting to Chicago; Cleveland; Charleston, West Virginia; Detroit; New York City; and Washington, D.C. Although

Greyhound Bus Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pa ...

serves this facility, as of May, 1st, 2022 they no longer staff employees or sell tickets from this facility. The plaza has several arrivals and departures from

, with routes to destinations around Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Michigan. The bus berths face the Emerald Avenue façade of the building.

References

External links

Toledo Union Station – USA RailGuide(TrainWeb)
{{toledo

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

Economy of Toledo, Ohio Transportation in Toledo, Ohio Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach stations in Ohio Transit centers in the United States Bus stations in Ohio Office buildings in Ohio Buildings and structures in Toledo, Ohio Railway stations in the United States opened in 1950 1950 establishments in Ohio Union stations in the United States